Downtown LA

City Hosts Car-Free Party for Second Time in Three Weeks

It may not have drawn the crowds that were expected, but for the second time in three weeks the City of Los Angeles shut down part of its Downtown street grid for an outdoor party and the world didn't end. If the city is willing to spend $4 million for police presence and to shut down streets for a rock star's memorial; imagine what they should be willing to spend on a weekend car-free party for everyone in the city, not just those people who happen to like Michael Jackson or the Los Angeles Lakers, similar to those we see in San Francisco, New York or, of course, Columbia.

By Damien Newton

2:44 PM PDT on July 7, 2009

Photo: Blogdowntown

It may not have drawn the crowds that were expected, but for the second time in three weeks the City of Los Angeles shut down part of its Downtown street grid for an outdoor party and the world didn’t end. If the city is willing to spend $4 million for police presence and to shut down streets for a rock star’s memorial; imagine what they should be willing to spend on a weekend car-free party for everyone in the city, not just those people who happen to like Michael Jackson or the Los Angeles Lakers, similar to those we see in San Francisco, New York or, of course, Columbia.

Plenty of bloggers have some coverage of the event itself, so while we wait for Los Angeles to get serious about a Ciclovia-style event that will be the envy of the world; we’ll have to make do with pictures of the streets on LAist, Curbed and Blogdowntown.